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The heroes' families
 | Takeho Ishiyama & Akiko Ishiyama | |
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"No, I swear! And the monster looks like the one in Ultimate Blaster! Daddy's outside..."
#39 A Bad Turn
| Appearances
#3 Holiday in the Fog
#15 Laughing Fit
#23 Rock Bottom
#24 Ghost Channel
#25 Code Earth
#29 Exploration
#30 A Great Day
#34 Missing Link
#35 The Chips Are Down
#39 A Bad Turn
#42 A Fine Mess
#49 Franz Hopper
#77 Lost at Sea
#82 Distant Memory
#87 A Space Oddity |
Characteristics
"...that's it then, we're in the thick of it now! (...) A teenage crisis!"
#49 Franz Hopper
Occupation:
Mrs Ishiyama seems to be a housewife, which earned her the unpleasant remark from her husband: “What about you? Did you go to the temp agencies today?” (episode 35 “The Chips Are Down”).
Mr Ishiyama seems to work with several Japanese companies specialising in advanced technologies (microscopes, glasses, etc...). This is confirmed in episode 35 “The Chips Are Down”, in which Mr Ishiyama loses his job before finding another with Takahashi, though not without difficulty, because according to him, there are a lot of people working in his field!
Thankfully Lady Luck smiled on Takeho Ishiyama, or Yumi might already be in Kyoto, Japan...
Family:
Mr and Mrs Ishiyama are Yumi and Hiroki's parents. We don't know where the rest of their family lives, but it's probably in Japan! Mrs Ishiyama references her mother in episode 34 “Missing Link”, when she says that she always told her not to marry a city man!
This may seem trivial, but it's really not when you know a little about Japan. She reveals that Mrs Ishiayama was, in all likelihood, raised in rural Japan (which makes up less than a sixth of the population) and which is found in northern Japan (either on the west coast, or on the island of Hokkaido in the north). On the other hand, Mr Ishiyama would have been a man from the city, so he came from the immense megalopolis that spans the entire east coast of Japan. Though he's a city man, we can still guess that he's from Tokyo, the capital of Japan and the centre of the Japanese megalopolis.
The idea that Mr and Mrs Ishiyama already have family in Japan can be reinforced by the face that they want to go back to their country of origin in episode 35 “The Chips Are Down”. We don't just go wherever the road takes us!
Role in the series
"We're going to have to get a lot more strict!"
#29 Exploration
Parent of a daughter (according to Yumi's mother) in a teenage crisis, Mr and Mrs Ishiyama are often troubled, especially because they don't know that their daughter in a teenage crisis saves the world every day, right under their noses! Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Ishiyama are often the ones who impose barriers on Yumi, restricting her freedom and impeding her contact with the group.
We can't blame them; the Ishiyamas don't know the consequences of their actions, they're just god parents who worry about what will become of their daughter. When she comes home at 3 in the morning, it's normal that the mood will turn sour...
However, sometimes it's the adults who have a childish attitude, infantile... They come to concern for their responsible and thoughful daughter, that's why the Ishiyama family is at the centre of several episodes (episodes 15 and 35 “Laughing Fit” and “The Chips Are Down”).
The balance in the Ishiyama family really depends on Yumi's mental state and nervousness. It's unfortunately the oldest of the family who is the victim of disputes between her parents and who is compelled to help her mother with chores, because her father won't (episode 82 “Distant Memory”). Nonetheless, these household scenes can also be used by the writers for comical means, even a tad satirical.
Character and behaviour
"You know, Takeho, I've been feeling depressed lately. You don't pay any attention to me! It's almost as if you never listen to me anymore!"
#34 Missing Link
Mr Ishiyama is a pragmatic man (read irritable), he raises his voice easily and gets exasperated by lots of things, which makes him a slightly rude and irritating character; not a very easy one to live with! Otherwise he's a rather calm man, happy living in the moment of his small and tranquil life.
He's very strict towards Yumi and doesn't support the idea that she's hiding something, he often asks Yumi for explanations, which she knows how to dodge (episode 30 “A Great Day”) He's sometimes crazy as we quickly realise with his change of opinion on the canine race in episode 87 “A Space Oddity”. He adopts and plays with Kiwi, brought into his house without his knowing, while the presence of pets had always been forbidden under his roof.
Mrs Ishiyama is much more sedate, more thoughtful and more motherly... She moderates a lot of her husband's hot air when he gets carried away, unless there's a problem in the household and the couple are going through a rough patch (episode 15 “Laughing Fit”). We feel that she' always notices when something's troubling her daughter, more than her husband who is a little less knowledgeable when it comes to this sort of thing... She would love Yumi to confide in her and always keeps the invitation open, that in itself being reassuring.
Mr and Mrs Ishiyama therefore resemble what could be a realistic couple, mostly united but with a few crises due to one of them having a mood swing.
Although the surveillance the inflict on Yumi is painful, they're good parents who are conscientious and caring, though certainly not fit to be made aware of the existence of a Supercomputer that's threatening the life of their daughter day after day. | | |
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"Listen, Hiroki, just because you're in junior high now doesn't mean you have to follow me around, ok bro?"
#53 Straight to Heart
| Appearances
#29 Exploration
#35 The Chips Are Down
#39 A Bad Turn
#40 Attack of the Zombies
#42 A Fine Mess
#49 Franz Hopper
#52 The Key
#53 Straight to Heart
#56 False Lead
#65 Final Round
#70 Skidbladnir
#75 Hot Shower
#77 Lost at Sea
#82 Distant Memory
#87 A Space Oddity
#92 Cold Sweat |
Characteristics
"YUUUUMIIIII! YOUR BOYFRIEND'S HEEEEERE!"
#52 The Key
Age at the start of the series:
10 or 11
School:
We don't know anything about Hiroki's school life, except that he enters year 6 in episode 53 “Straight to Heart”.
Family:
Hiroki is the youngest son of the Ishiyamas. He maintains a good relationship with his parents but has not yet yielded to the call of teenagehood; he loves sneaking up on his big sister!
His relationship with Yumi is conflicted! He takes pleasure in taunting his sister and doesn't hesitate to throw a monkey wrench into the works if need be and without any apparent reason (episode 65 “Final Round”).
Other:
Hiroki is the one who gets Odd's Tamagotchi Jean-Pierre, but he quickly lets it go (episode 56 “False Lead”). He's friends with Johnny and a fan of “Wheelchair Zombie”...
Role in the series
"Let me go and don't say anything to Mum and Dad, I'll make it up to you, I promise!"
#65 Final Round
Hiroki first appears in season 2 as Yumi's mischievous and annoying little brother. Constantly reminding her that she's in love with Ulrich, in front of the world or not; he exasperates his big sister! He's once again a character that makes us laugh!
In season 3, he becomes a little more important when he enters Kadic as a year 6 student! His presence therefore becomes more oppressive for Yumi, especially as her little brother also begins to interfere with the Japanese teen's freedom, especially in episode 65 “Final Round” when he really tries to force her to stay home!
Hiroki has not, and would doubtlessly not have a place in the Lyoko adventure because he's too young and not trustworthy enough! He nevertheless helped his sister in episode 75 “Hot Shower” in which he aided her by picking a lock on a door...although largely forced to by the situation.
Character and behaviour
"It's wuv! Haha! Oh, Ulrich, I wuuuuv yoooou!"
#42 A Fine Mess
Hiroki has a very immature personality, which nicely characterises a child who's a little spoiled for his age!
He has a lot of fun making fun of Yumi by telling her that she's in love with Ulrich and by singing it loudly! Yumi is completely exasperated by this attitude, which eventually fades over time. Hiroki plays a lot of video games without turning the sound down and only sometimes obeys orders given to him!
In episode 39 “A Bad Turn”, though he was frightened by a Krab, seeing Ulrich fight it with sabre in hand made him rush into the danger himself, putting everyone into a difficult situation.
When he enters year 6, we can see that Hiroki becomes a little less childlike, even if he still reacts to things a little childishly.
In episode 65 “Final Round”, we even discover a perverse side to him when he blackmails his sister, threatening to tell their parents if she leaves the house! He gets an almost sadistic pleasure from hearing her bargain for her freedom, and then declining...
Finally, we note that Hiroki is very shy when he asks Ulrich for advice on getting Milly's attention, with whom he is in love. | | |
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"I'm worried about your grades, son. That's the reason I came. You and I have to talk."
#65 Final Round
Characteristics
Occupation:
Unknown, Mr Stern seems high up on the social ladder; he lives in more than adequate conditions.
Appearances
#21 Zero Gravity Zone
#65 Final Round
#82 Distant Memory |
Role in the series
"Have you ever met Ulrich's dad? If you're not first in everything then you're nothing in his book!"
#21 Zero Gravity Zone
Mr and Mrs Stern are the invisible hand that clasps Ulrich day after day! They're almost never there for their son, but the pressure they exert on Ulrich for him to excel in his studies is constant. It's because of them that Ulrich is constantly tormented by a bad grade, because of them that he gets angry at Odd when he stops him from concentrating (episode 18 “Killer Music”), because of them he even refused to go to Lyoko so as not to disobey them. We clearly see that Ulrich has a complex about his parents and strives to shine in sport at the very least to please them... His effort are all too often in vain. In episode 21 “Zero Gravity Zone”, Ulrich voluntarily stays on Earth to play in a soccer match in order to impress them, forcing Yumi and Odd to manage alone on Lyoko.
In episode 65 “Final Round”, Mr Stern keeps Ulrich in the principal's office for a long time, causing Aelita to have to go to Lyoko alone with William, leading to the consequences we know all too well...
And on such terms, Ulrich and his father left, we can suppose and even hope that one such incident will never happen again...
Character and behaviour
"And I see you forgot your happy pill again!"
#82 Distant Memory
A psychoanalyst would seek to explain Ulrich's cold and introvertive nature by rummaging through his childhood and education... They'd be astounded!
Ulrich's parents are, at a first glance, very cold and distant. Reserved, maybe even more than their son, their faces often remain impassive and even the pride they feel for their son remains hidden under a frozen waterfall! This is confirmed more for Mr Stern than for his wife, as he reveals it a little more!
We only know a little about Mrs Stern, who only appears as a spectator in episode 21 “Zero Gravity Zone” and in passing in episode 82 “Distant Memory”, during which she procrastinates without much success. When Ulrich fakes an injury, she seems more worried than her husband, who seems more preoccupied by the fact that his son is leaving the field without finishing the game! We had to wait for a more extreme situation for the condescending adult to express his pride in his son (being drawn up into the sky like a magnet, that's not too bad a time)...
Mr and Mrs Sterns' cold characters are the cause of Ulrich's anxiety and also his transient coldness. His parents don't seem to realise the influence they have on their son! Evidently with such a personality, we can suppose that they're more interested in their son's school results than his daily life. The mood at the start of the holidays is cold when the parents come to pick their son up.
In episode 65 “Final Round”, the authoritarian and absolute nature of Mr Stern explodes even more than before! He, worried about his son's poor results, decides to come to Kadic to demand an explanation and give him a good scolding!
Demanding an explanation is somewhat ironic when we see the father raging on his son, caring little for the sheepish explanations Ulrich gives him. To Mr Stern, there are no alternatives, he must be an elite student. Moreover, Mr Stern claims that at 14 years old, he had straight As and was preparing his college application.
Even when Ulrich gets angry, Mr Stern remains unchanged in his opinions, indifferent!
He's a very terrible father, especially when we know that he and Ulrich haven't spoken for a year!
At the end of the episode, Mr Stern has repeated the word “study” far too many times and ranted that Ulrich's skipping class is suspicious, and Ulrich stands up to his father for the first time, forbidding him from saying anything bad about his friends.
The ultimate gap will widen between them, when Jeremy calls Ulrich urgently and the boy ditches his father, telling him that he's done listening... | | |
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"You know that school for gifted children that you were talking about? (...) I wanna go. Can you come get me?"
#49 Franz Hopper
Characteristics
Appearances
#49 Franz Hopper
#82 Distant Memory |
Role in the series
"The psychologist creep couldn't wait to talk to my parents. He told them that at that kind of school, I'd be entitled to a big scholarship. My folks aren't going to pass up a great chance like that."
#11 Plagued
Jeremy's parents have a very secondary role in the series: they're practically absent. We never even see his mother. We only know that she worries about his son, who doesn't call very often.
This probably comes from the fact that they put a lot of trust in their son, and he is worthy of it: Jeremy is by far more mature and resourceful than other kids his age.
In episode 11 “Plagued”, Jeremy worried because his parents wanted to force him to go to a school for gifted children if he was deemed capable. In the end, he was worried over nothing, seeing as the subject arose again in episode 49 “Franz Hopper” and it was Jeremy who made the decision not to go.
Character and behaviour
"And that isn't all, Aelita! Tonight, you're coming home with me! My parents want you to stay for the holidays. (...) They're the ones who insisted!"
#82 Distant Memory
What we saw in the previous section reveals a more appreciable personality. Jeremy's parents treat their son with a lot of compassion and give him lots of attention. This is rarely seen because they only appear twice but Jeremy's father is happy to know his son is in the company of good friends and he's very satisfied to know he's in love with Aelita.
Moreover, he shows a great understanding of his son who makes him do a lot of unnecessary travel: one time to pick him up from Kadic so he could change schools...only to end up changing his mind and dismiss his father, who'd only just arrived! A second time to return to the school during the Christmas holidays to check if Aelita was doing ok.
The father didn't mind in the least. | | |
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"Oh man, my mother always told me I'd end up in prison!"
Code Lyoko Chronicles
The Underground Castle - Chapter 16
Characteristics
Other:
Odd's parents are artists; the father is an opera singer and the mother a costume designer (hence her original outfit). They have a number of other children: only girls. From the oldest to the youngest: Pauline, Elisabeth, Marie, Adele and Lousie.
Appearance
#91 Bad Connection |
Role in the series & Character and behaviour
"A weird relationship problem! Teenagers are always having lots of conflicts with their parents...a generation gap. Except for one: me! My mother and father are always cool, supportive, understanding. In fact, they're just perfect."
#91 Bad Connection
Odd's parents only appear in one episode: they're the kind of people who are always on the road. Odd almost never talks about them. Their only appearance will have a comic effect due to their brazen personality: they revere their beloved son. They find, in fact, that Odd is full of good qualities: a good appetite, humour, talent, creativity...and even modesty! This final point truly prevents him from coming first in the class like he could be doing, in deference to his classmates.
Also, XANA celebrates their appearance by not hesitating to possess them. | | |
| James Dunbar & Mrs Dunbar | |
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"Of the real William Dunbar! Our son is a dynamic and rebellious youngster, who was expelled from the last school he attended for gluing stickers all over the school, including on the principal's windshield."
#93 Down to Earth
| Characteristics
Other:
An uncle in the Dunbar family works in a building destruction company.
Appearances
#67 Double Take
#93 Down to Earth |
Role in the series & Character and behaviour
"I can't hear you very well, Mr. Dunbar. Are you trying to say that your son, William, has gone overseas to stay with you? And that he won't be attending classes here until you bring him home?"
#66 William Returns
William's parents appear later in the series.
We don't know much about them. They're quite clear about their son's personality: they're aware that he's a young rebel, suggesting that they had a rough time dealing with his previous actions at his last schools.
Come to Kadic to see William, they came across his clone instead and quickly realised that something was up. Luckily, the heroes freed William in the meantime and their real son took his place and dispersed their doubts. | | |
| Anthea Hopper, married Schaeffer | |
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"But...you remember, dear, your mother disappeared..."
#82 Distant Memory
| Characteristics
Appearances
#52 The Key
#82 Distant Memory
Other:
Anthea is the only character who has only appeared in the form of flashbacks. Also, her first name wasn't mentioned until season 4, specifically during the season 4 advance screening.
Her pink hair, like Aelita's, isn't dyed but her natural colour. It's the only "surreal" physical element of any character in the series. |
Role in the series
"Yes, and I want to see her again more than anything else in the world, and you know that! You've always known!"
#82 Distant Memory
Even more than Franz Hopper, Anthea is a character shrouded in mystery.
Her first appearance (episode 52 “The Key”) allowed us to discover the mother of Aelita, who we already knew was human. Her sudden disappearance in an image accompanied by an appropriate sound effect showed that she left her daughter's life early and quickly (Aelita was around 7 years old). But at this point, there were many hypotheses: voluntary departure? Deceased? Kidnapped? Murder?
The unnatural cause was generally preferred given Hopper's underground activities.
During seasons 3 and 4, the references made to Franz Hopper increased and the search for him was frenzied, but there wasn't a single mention of Anthea. Her disappearance seemed to be the be-all, end-all for Aelita, who visibly wasn't staying hopeful of seeing her again one day.
During her second appearance, the scenario is much more clear (episode 82, “Distant Memory”). Anthea was kidnapped by the "men in black", agents who were probably working for the organisation managing Project Carthage: the military program Franz unwittingly participated in, then deserted.
Despite this influx of information, questions still remained:
- Why did the men in black target Anthea instead of Hopper?
- Was is to put pressure on the scientist?
- Was Franz present when his wife was kidnapped?
- Was Anthea involved in Project Carthage?
- Did she know her husband was involved?
- Was she aware of the plan Franz was concocting to destroy Carthage? Did she know about the lab, the Supercomputer and XANA?
A detail of the series leaves a small track: when it created a virtual bubble on Lyoko to lure Aelita in episode 82, XANA (disguised as Hopper) tried to recreate the environment Aelita grew up in so that she would feel safe there. Aelita unmasked the trick because Anthea wasn't present in this environment, while the real Franz Hopper would have included her. This leads us to stronly believe that XANA knows nothing about Anthea.
A question arises in the end...
And the most important of all... Is she still alive somewhere?
The question has to be asked. On one hand, Franz Hopper, doesn't seem to have tried to find her... On the other hand, with Franz and Aelita's leaving to Lyoko for a whole decade, did the men in black keep her alive?
To be continued... | | |
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